3.5 year old waking up earlier and earlier

[milkeriffic mama]

DS normally goes to sleep between 7:30 and 8. Usually takes a nap. In fact, they told me he took a good nap at daycare yesterday. Normally I have to wake him up at 6am on weekdays to get ready for school, and he would sleep at LEAST till 6 (but usually later) on a weekend. This week, he has gotten up for the day before 5am. three times! there does not appear to be anything else wrong. no bad dreams that woke him up. no illness. he's just fully awake, full of energy, and ready for the day. Which brings me to the dreaded question- if I don't want to continue waking up at 4:30 am, is this week a sign that he may no longer need a nap? Or is it just a phase? What are your thoughts, mama? Thanks in advance for your help!

[rainyday]

It could be a sign that he no longer needs that much sleep each day.

But, before you decide that, I'd be absolutely sure that there was no new noise or light or something that's been waking him up. I say this because we ended up having to cancel newspaper delivery because we found that the sound of the papers hitting the front door at 4:30 am was waking our ds up! We finally figured it out after about a week.

How long is his normal nap? If it's longer than about an hour, you could try waking him up after an hour this weekend and see how that affects his morning rising time. It can take a while for it to change his wake time, though; even if it's going to help, it might not start pushing it later for a week or two, depending on your child.

If you decided to forgo the nap altogether, you might want to move his bedtime a little earlier. 8 until 6 is only ten hours of sleep, and for a lot of 3.5 year olds, that's not quite enough.

Good luck - those early morning wake ups are brutal, at least for me!